The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
by Fire Tears X
Summary: - "You can quit the team and I’ll quit cheerleading and then we can just walk away from it. Nathan, let’s do it."
1. Walking Away

**The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most**

Chapter 1

Walking Away

* * *

Peyton held Nathan's hair in her hands as his hands traveled inside her cheerleading skirt and matching top. His lips were smothering hers as their hands explored each other's bodies. She clutched onto his open buttoned striped shirt and slid it down his arms, revealing his sleeveless gray undershirt and his slender but well-toned biceps. She grasped on tightly to his shoulders and pulled him closer while his tongue collided with hers.

Suddenly, Nathan's face fell to the floor and his hands were no longer exploring her back. Nathan didn't even attempt to chuckle lowly, ruining the passionate experience for the both of them. She gazed at him intently and unnerved.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Nathan uttered in repeat.

Peyton looked away from his grayish-blue eyes and Nathan instantly apologized once again. Without another word, she grinned slyly and threw herself into another make-out session. She grabbed a fistful of hair as he tried to please her with his scouting fingers.

The kiss was once again broken by another short snicker from Nathan.

"Unbelievable!" Peyton bellowed before sulking into the cushion of the passenger's seat.

Nathan was smiling brightly, despite the fact that his girlfriend, Peyton, obviously had no pleasure in jeering his brother's humiliation.

Lucas Scott was Nathan's illegitimate brother who attended the same school – Tree Hill High – with Nathan and Peyton. Despite the fact that they have the same father and share the same class, Nathan and Lucas were mortal enemies; and not in the he's-my-brother-and-I-love-to-hate-him type of way either.

Nathan felt threatened when his blonde-haired brother joined the basketball team. Nathan was the undeniable star of the Tree Hill Ravens and Lucas was clearly the biggest threat to him after he lost to a one-on-one game with the blonde a week ago.

Tonight, the spotlight was taken from his brother with no involvement on his part. Lucas had just finished his first game and he missed every shot he took. Nathan felt no chagrin in laughing at how horrible the other Scott's game was that night.

"What? Peyton, did you see how bad he sucked?"

"So?" Peyton shot back quickly.

"He was horrible." Nathan said with a big open-mouthed grin on his face. "I never seen a guy place so bad that he-"

Peyton cut him off sharply. "And you enjoyed that?"

"Well, hell yea." He answered in a 'duh!' tone. "Didn't you?"

Peyton scoffed and looked away. She saw no enjoyment in watching a stranger make a public embarrassment of himself… especially when that stranger was the brother of her boyfriend.

"What is this Peyton? You like this guy or something?" Nathan's pressure was rising.

"You mean more than my boyfriend who I'm trying to make out with right now?" Peyton responded with a question of her own.

Nathan honestly couldn't understand why she didn't just say "no". He was aware that Peyton shared a conversation or two with the guy but the method she took in answering his question was shady.

Peyton attempted to end the subject by placing her hands on his chest and moving in for a kiss. Nathan jerked away and inched a few spaces away from his girlfriend.

"Well put some ice on it." He spat after rejecting her kiss. She looked at him with an open mouth and startled eyes. "You ever think I might want to talk?"

"No, you don't. You want to celebrate a public humiliation and I'm sorry, that's a little played out."

Nathan glanced at Peyton with his cold blue eyes. "Oh. And being with you isn't?"

Peyton's eyes narrowed and without exchanging any banter of her own, she opened the car door, grabbed her coat, and left the car.

"Come on, Peyton! I was joking!" Nathan pleaded as she shut the door behind her.

Nathan rolled down the frosted windows and called out to his girlfriend.

"Are you getting in the car?"

Peyton looked at him through the open window and revolted a sigh of aggravation as she stuffed her coat into her tiny bag.

"Please?" he pleaded.

Peyton bit her lips and stormed off with her bag against her chest.

"Fine!" Nathan shouted, finally giving up. He threw her pom-poms out the window and picked up a CD case. "And take you lame music too." He spat before chucking that out the window as well. "Have a nice walk home!"

He started the engine and drove off, leaving Peyton behind.

"Damn it, Nathan! That CD was hard to find. It's an import!"

Despite the distasteful circumstances, the current event sent a chilling breeze down Peyton's spine. She remembered the first time she talked to Nathan.

--X--

_It was the first basketball game of the season for Tree Hill. It was Peyton's sophomore year and it was her first time wearing the cheerleading outfit. She was always a cheerer at most of the sporting events, mostly cheering on her best friend, Brooke Davis, cheering on the team. This time was different. This time she was standing alongside her friend and she had pom-poms and short skirts; the whole enchilada. _

_Brooke Davis had spent days upon weeks begging her best friend to join the squad after she made cheerleading captain. Peyton finally gave in and joined the squad. She'd never admit that she once wanted to be one of the happy-go-lucky cheerleaders back in middle school._

_During the game, the then short and gangly brunette strutted over to the cheerleaders and made his daily round of flirting with the willing. He looked over to Brooke Davis and smiled. _

"_What's up, beautiful?" Nathan greeted. _

'_Beautiful' was a common term of endearment from Nathan to any of his many conquests so Brooke didn't take the "compliment" to heart. She shrugged flirtingly and batted her eyelashes._

"_Not much, star player." Brooke responded. She smiled a bit and smirked. "Tell ya what… if you win this game I'll give you a goodnight kiss." _

_Nathan smiled._

"_How about your new cheerleader gives me that kiss?" Nathan said as he pointed to Peyton. Brooke's mouth was wide open in shock and excitement. "Hey," he called out to the blonde with curls. "what's your name?" _

_Peyton began to open her mouth but a rough voice heard from the distance interrupted her._

"_Scott! Get your ass back over here!" Coach Whitey Durham shouted across the gym._

_Nathan winked at Peyton and ran into the team's huddle. _

_After the winning game, Peyton sat on the hood of Brooke's car and waited for her to finish exchanging numbers with the new basketball players. She took a deep breath as she rested her back on the window of the car. The hood was facing the driveway and she watched all the cars pass her through. Suddenly, a white Ford Edge drove up in front of her with the passenger's window down._

_Tim Smith was sitting on the passenger's side, scrolling through Nathan's CD collection while Nathan was peering through him to observe Peyton. _

"_So, are you going to tell me your name?" he asked. _

_Nathan's flirting caught Tim's attention. He dropped the CDs to his waist and looked outside the window to see Peyton. Tim smirked a little and looked a Peyton with a grin of approval for his friend._

"_It's Peyton." She said lowly. Nathan let out a cocky smirk. "What's yours?"_

_Nathan and Tim let out a small laughing snort. He winked at Peyton and nudged his friend beside him._

"_Ask around."_

_Peyton was left smiling as Nathan rolled up the windows and drove off, leaving her in an aroused state._

--X--

Peyton sat in her candle-lit room with her with her sketch pencil at hand. Most of the time, her mind took over her body when she drew. She didn't think about what she drew. No thoughts about the angles or the shading. It was just her pencil and her paper and the outcome of her emotions. Today was no different.

The music in her room was extremely loud but she managed to hear the low ringing of her cordless phone through the blasting waves. She looked at the caller ID to see _Dan Scott_ flashing across the LCD. Classically, Nathan was calling her to beg for her forgiveness. Through the months, the begging had become more of a script on Nathan's part.

She turned her "lame music" up on full blast and put the phone up to the speakers. For a minute, she forgot that the lyrics to the song were 'My love is bigger than your love'… no truer words were spoken.

She turned the phone off and continued to sketch her drawings. The phone rung again. This time, she decided to answer without her music playing in the background. She put the phone against her ear but she didn't speak.

"I'm sorry." Nathan said on clockwork. He could hear her hair rustling against the mic of the phone but she didn't respond. "Peyton…"

"Peyton's not here right now. Just her lame music."

"Look, I'm really sorry." He pleaded in an apologetic voice. "It's just… this guy's on the team now and my dad's been hammering me about it."

'This guy?' Peyton thought to herself. How would he react if he knew that 'this guy' was the one who dropped her off home after he left her in the park?

"But I shouldn't take it out on you. I know that." He finished.

Peyton sighed. She was on the webcam, as usual, and she didn't want her viewers to see her get emotional on this level so she threw a sweater over the lens of the cam. She fiddled her pen against the edge of the desk.

Nathan always apologized for his mistakes whenever he needs someone to talk to. His dad was horrible and Peyton, despite how many hoes he had, was his only friend. His only confidante. He was pretty close to Tim but he had too much pride to show how much his dad affected him on a daily basis. Peyton was the only one.

"Nathan, I'm tired of this." Peyton said, choosing her words carefully.

"I know, it's just… Look, I haven't been very good to you lately and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. K?" Peyton didn't respond.

She closed her eyes to keep them for watering. Half of her instant sadness was sympathy and the other was for her weakness. Nathan had done this to her many times before and every time he makes a sad voice then she falls right back into his grasp.

"Just say it's okay so when I see you tomorrow, we can start being us again. OK, Peyton?" He pleaded once more after a short wait for a response.

Peyton look to her ceiling and back to her sketch. Her eyes were moist but not watered.

"OK."

She looked down to her sketch to see a picture of Nathan's car leaving her behind. Words were bannered on top of the sketch and Peyton traced the words with her pencil as she held the phone against her ear, hearing Nathan's sigh of relief.

_It's Not OK_

--X--

Peyton walked into the hallway outside of homeroom and spotted her best friend, Brooke. Her light-brown hair glimmered in the hallway lights and Brooke flipped her hair as she looked in every direction of the hall. She was a high-fashion model in every way imaginable. Even in her soft, whisper voice.

As Peyton began to walk towards her friend she felt a firm grip wrap itself around her arm and pull her back. Her back fell against the locker and her lips were covered in those of the brunette teen whom she was dating. Peyton wrapped her arms around Nathan's slender waistline and kissed him back aggressively. Their make-ups were usually that way.

"I missed you, Peyt."

Peyton smiled and stared into those blue eyes of Nathan.

"I missed you, too."

The rest of their hallway's make-out session consisted of Nathan's teammates wolf whistling as they passed the couple in the hall. Usually, softcore porn was ended the second it began in the hallways of Tree Hill but the hall monitors and teachers had a habit of breaking rules when it involved their star player. Nathan could steal a bus and the city police would let him go… of course, that isn't exactly hypothetical now is it?

"Early in his career, Hemmingway was frustrated. He was a good writer who wanted to be great but eventually he discovered that less was more." The English teacher, Mr. Kelly, lectured to his class. "Peyton…"

Peyton looked up quickly. Her head was in the clouds during class and she was really hoping the teacher wasn't going to ask her a question about what he was just talking about.

"Describe Lucas in one word." He demanded.

'Shit! I'd rather take a questionnaire on the lecture.'

Peyton glanced over at Nathan, who turned around with his eyes glued to his illegitimate blonde brother. Then, she looked over at Lucas who had an undeniable fixation on her.

'Nice.' 'Sweet.' 'Cute.' 'Blonde.' 'Better.' 'Than.' 'Nathan.'

Many words came to Peyton's mind but she picked the short end of the straw.

"Choke."

Lucas clenched his jaw and swallowed his tongue. Nathan laughed – along with the rest of the class – and turned to face the front of the class.

"Lucas, care to respond and describe Peyton?"

Lucas turned into his seat to see the curly blonde glaring at him silently. She tried her best to hide it but there was sadness in her eyes.

"Lonely."

Nathan sighed. He tried his hardest to be upset with the blonde who sat directly behind him but his anger was directed towards himself. He couldn't help but feel like he failed Peyton in some way. It was pathetic that someone who was nearly a stranger to her can see through her blank expressions.

He raised his hand.

"Yes, Nathan." Mr. Kelly called on him.

"Describe Lucas in one word?" Nathan paused dramatically. The entire class took in a breath as they all knew the following word wasn't going to be a nice one. "Bastard."

Peyton's eyes widened. She had no place to care about Lucas the way that she may have but her stomach hurled every time Nathan referred to his brother as a piece of trash. He's a _horrible_ person.

_It's Not OK_

--X--

_Nathan and Peyton had been dating for a few months now and their relationship turned a bit rocky. They got in an argument last night over something Peyton had forgotten by the next day. _

_She paced herself in the hallways, waiting for Nathan to exit class so that she can wrap her arms around his slim figure and tell him how much she missed him over the weekend. The school bells had rung and his class all filed outside the room in a ramble. She looked over everyone who ran exited the door but the brunette haired boyfriend wasn't in the crowd._

_She took a gander inside the assumed empty class to see Nathan's arms wrapped around an unfamiliar, petite, raven-haired scholar. It wasn't a small hug, either. He held her close and his face was buried into the nape of her neck. _

_He glanced up at the door to see Peyton standing there with drowning eyes and her teeth sinking into her bottom lip._

_Peyton stomped off into the hallway and tried her best to get as far away from Nathan as possible but he was right behind her in every step. _

"_Peyton!" he called out to her as she pushed aside students in the hall to rush through them. "Peyton! Please stop!" he called out again, this time with a hint of remorse in his voice._

_Eventually, after chasing her down the hall, he managed to grab her arm and turn her around to face him._

"_It's not what it looks like." _

_Peyton snorted in disbelief and looked away from his regretful gaze._

"_Really, Peyt." He pleaded lowly. "She was helping me with my math and I gave her hug as a thank you." He explained convincingly. _

_Nathan cupped her chin and forced her to look him in the eye. He winced a bit when he saw a waterfall of tears streaming down his face. He admired Peyton carefully (as if she was delicate glass) and clenched his jaw tightly. _

"_It kills me to see you like this." Nathan ran his thumb across her eyes to catch her falling tears._

"_It kills me to see you… with…" Peyton couldn't finish her sentence. She was already speaking through sobs and recapping the previous vision was painful enough._

_Nathan wrapped his arms around Peyton tightly. Her cheek rested upon his hollow chest as he comforted her in his arms._

"_I'm sorry, Peyton. God, I'm so sorry." He apologized repeatedly as the hallway grew empty. "It's OK."_

_As Nathan finished his last sentence, Peyton looked at him and grinned. She locked her lips with his and fell into the first of many of his apologies. _

_It wasn't OK. It's never OK._

--X--

Peyton sat on her bed with her back against the headboard. Her eyes were buried in _Kabuki Scarabs_ as her toes were being glazed by her boyfriend. He tinkered with her long toes and looked up at her with a smirk.

"You got some ugly toes, girl."

"No I don't." she responded with her eyes still fixated in the book.

"Yeah, you do. They're like practically fingers." He laughed.

"Then just focus on the middle one." She said, taking a flirtingly angry glance at Nathan.

"Aw, come on. I was just joking. I love your toes."

'Love'. That was word was an iffy word when concerning her relationship with Nathan. They exchanged 'I Love You's occasionally but they both made it a deal not to force that word into their relationship. They both liked the idea of being in love without reinforcing it all the time... or maybe they weren't in love at all.

"So, I'm thinking about quitting the team." Nathan announced after a brief silence.

"Right…" Peyton retorted in disbelief.

"No, I'm serious. I don't even like it anymore. Whitey can't stand me. It's never good enough for my dad."

Nathan looked at her without any hint of joking. Peyton dropped the book into her lap as her hands grew weak. She let out a small smile and waiting for Nathan to announced he was joking. He didn't.

"I think you should. Why not, right? You can quit the team and I'll quit cheerleading and then we can just walk away from it. Nathan, let's do it."

Peyton's eyes studied Nathan for a reaction. He was emotionless and blank. Her muscles tensed as she was expecting Nathan to laugh it off and walk away, but he didn't. She rose from her seating position and looked Nathan in the eye.

"Let's do it!" She repeated with a little more enthusiasm.

Nathan's emotional face and his straight lips began to curl into an approving smile.

* * *

**A/N**: Yup, so this is the end of chapter one (episode two in OTH world). I haven't decided yet if I'm going to add storylines for other characters but if I do I'll try to find a conventional way of doing so. In the meantime, inspire me please! Tell me how good (or awful) my idea is. Is the writing good? I'd like to know. I appreciate any and all comments. Thanks!


	2. Are You True?

**The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most**

Chapter 2

Are You True?

**A/N**: You guys have no idea how much I appreciate all the positive feedback! Thanks so much, every individual reviewer, for taking the time out to let me know what you think.

Storyline-wise, I'm trying to stay as true to the show as possible but I'm considering extremely toying with the Naley part of the story. Let's just say that when I get to a certain point in the story, you guys might end up hating a certain character. But that's a few chapters in the future to worry about that spoiler.

I also want to mention, so there's no confusion, that the flashbacks throughout the story are not chronological. The events of flashbacks are added when it's convenient to the current plot so sometimes I can be referring to the very beginning of the relationship and other times I'll be referring to something more near-plotted. But I'm sure you guys are smart enough to figure that out.

* * *

Buzz.

The final buzzer has rung and there isn't a single soul in the gym whose breath isn't short. Tension is rising in the room as the ball finds its way toward the basket. Everything is in slow motion right now. There are hundreds of tiny gasps filling the bleachers and every cheerleader has paused mid-scream. Peyton included.

Lucas is looking up at the ball and probably praying a million prayers. It was his sixth shot of the day and he genuinely had an amazing game; much better than last week's. It wasn't good practice that helped and it wasn't the dozen of advice he received from everyone who loves him. It was Peyton's sketches.

Swish.

The ball made its way into the basket and hollers echoed through the gym. The guest team hollered in agony while the crowd and the cheerleaders rejoiced in tight embraces.

Lucas, while being swarmed by the entire team, looked over at Peyton with a teeth-bearing grin. She returned him a beam of her own before being playfully tackled by her best friend and cheerleading companion.

"We won!" Brooke announced with her arms wrapped around her best friend's neck. "And it was hot ass Lucas who made the winning shot." She added, almost as if Peyton wasn't there a minute ago.

"Yeah, Brooke. I know."

"I know you know. I just had to say it out loud so I can justify what I'm going to do next." Brooke reached into her bag.

"And what exactly is that?" Peyton asked with a quizzical expression.

Brooke pulled her hand out of her cheerleading bag and revealed a set of keys hanging on her index finger.

"I had to go on a secret mission inside the boy's locker room so I can unlock the door the Lucas's car." Peyton's clueless expression has yet to change. "I plan on giving him an insider's view on B. Davis." Brooke finished as she peaked her shoulders outside her cheerleading top to reveal the strap of her infamous leopard bra.

"Ahh. Brooke Davis and the boy's locker room. It's like peanut butter and jelly." Peyton joked harmlessly.

"P. Sawyer and N. Scott: It's like vinegar and salt." Brooke shot back with full tongue-poking action. Peyton laughed briefly. "Now excuse me. I have to sneak these keys back into Lucas's gym locker before he realizes some crazy slut took them."

Peyton slapped Brooke's butt as she followed the boys outside the gym. Her eyes circled the emptying gym for her boyfriend. She spotted the number '23' on the back of his jersey and began approaching him. She can already see him grimacing face from the back of his head.

It's already bad enough that he missed he shot -- a shot which, by the way, he was double teamed -- but his sworn enemy was the one who made the shot. Peyton knew that this was going to upset Nathan and his dad in many ways.

As she approached him from behind, she circled her arms around his chest and rested her face on the lining of his spine.

"I missed you." She whispered into his warm, sweaty jersey.

Nathan placed his hands on Peyton's arms and smiled at the feel of her warm breath hitting against his back. He rotated in her circled arms to look down into her green irises and places his fingers into her curly blond hair. He placed a small kiss on her lips and then forced an unconvincing smile. She gave him a tight, supporting hug and placed her right cheek on his chest. His chin was resting on her crown as he frowned and let out an aggravated sigh.

"Why aren't you happy? You won." Peyton uttered into the musk of his chest.

"I won or _he_ won?" He spat out the word 'he' like it was a cursed name.

Peyton rolled her eyes. Nathan's disgust toward his own brother was something he showcased with pride. She sighed after the assumed rhetorical question and gave Nathan a tight squeeze under her embrace.

"Don't be like that, Nate. The team won and you are a part of the team." She paused to place a kiss on his chest. "If not more."

Nathan gave out a disapproving scoff. He reacted as if he just got a nasty fortune from a fortune cookie.

"Do ya mind rephrasing that to my dad?"

Peyton let out a wild exhale at the thought and picked her head up from Nathan's sweat-stained jersey. She looked up into his blue eyes and ran her fingers through his hair. Standing on the tip of her toes, she placed a supportive kiss on his forehead.

"It's going to be OK. Just… consider what we talked about."

Nathan blinked a few times and curled the corner of his mouth upward. He returned the kissing gesture to Peyton before telling her goodbye and walking off the boy's locker room to clean up. She smiled as he turned the corner outside the gym and disappeared out of sight.

It was the first time in a long time that things were going great. It was the first time in a long time that things were _OK_.

--X--

_Nathan and Peyton were dripping wet as they fumbled into his beach house. Long story short: Nathan ran into Peyton on the beach and tackled her, fully-clothed, into the ocean. Peyton, ignoring her location for the moment, began wringing out every piece of loose clothing that she can. She hardly noticed that Nathan had escaped from her range for the short while that it took for him to get a bunch of towels from the bathroom closet. _

_Peyton heard many stories through Brooke about how huge the beach house was. The beach house was practically known as party central and Nathan never failed to throw anything less than the locker room conversation of the week. Peyton, being one to avoid drunken idiots, had never set foot in the beach house prior to this moment._

_She explored the house in awe. Floored chin and all. Everything looked so delicate and neatly placed. _

"_Wow," she awed as she knelt beside the lit fireplace, wrapped completely under her white towel. "This place is amazing." _

_Nathan shrugged modestly and gave Peyton a closed mouth grin. He walked across the room with a cover wrapped around his shoulders. Peyton let out a big smile when Nathan wrapped her inside the cover after sitting beside her near the fireplace._

"_Thank you." Peyton muttered with flushed cheeks. And not because she was cold.  
_

_Nathan gave her another closed-mouthed grin and started frantically rubbing her back to warm her._

"_Are you still cold?"_

_Peyton shook her head. "Not anymore." _

_Peyton took her eyes off the fire to glance over at Nathan. She never noticed just how attractive he was. Sure, she thought he was hot but she never really _looked_ at him before. With good reason, though. She, as well as the entire school, was aware of his conquests. _

_Nathan was known for getting any and every girl he wanted with little to no effort on his part. He was known to have an undeniable handsome charm and he'd never stop until he completed his mission. He had many conquests but he never had a girlfriend or a companion. Most girls were foolish enough to believe they were his exception but soon after having sex with him they'd realize just how unattainable he was._

_But Peyton… she was so different. And not just because of her music or her style. Not because she was a mystery. It was because he can see that she sees something real and genuine inside of him. Many of his other conquests liked to believe they were special or he was different but they never really saw that in him. Peyton did._

"_I really like you, Peyt." Peyton didn't respond. She just rested her head on his shoulders and continued to gaze the fire. "I like the way you smile at me and the way you look through me." _

_Peyton lifted her head to peer at Nathan's deepening blue eyes._

"_I like you too."_

"_And I like the way you kiss me." He joked with a hard smile. _

_Peyton gave him a playful slap on his shoulders and started laughing embarrassingly into his neck. _

"_That was one time and it wasn't real."_

_Nathan's adam's apple began throbbing in his throat as he swallowed hard. "It was real to me."_

_Peyton could feel Nathan's breathing against her face. Her muscles stiffened as she watched his lips grow closer and closer to her own. Just centimeters before his lips crashed into hers she sneezed. She covered her mouth and her eyes looked up at him._

"_Are you OK?"_

_Peyton gestured a tiny shrug and batted her eyes lashes._

"_I will be."_

--X--

Nathan laid across Peyton's bed with his arms folded into his chest and his face wrinkling in disappointment. He let out a hard sigh.

"Unbelievable. The guy scores twelve measly points and they act like he's Iverson. Do you know how many games I scored more than that in? All but two. And one of them I had mono." He ranted out loud while Peyton laid beside him in boredom.

His complaining, albeit annoying, was justified. Dan "the father" Scott spent the entire car ride home with one of his angry 'I'm disappointed at you' looks. Nathan probably apologized a million times during the short car ride but the only words that escaped his dad's lips were:

"_I thought this was your team."_

Peyton can usually tolerate Nathan's ranting; in fact, she loved the fact that she was the one he'd turn to. But this one was different. This one involved his half brother Lucas. Peyton hated that he hated his own brother. She could never understand it, no matter how hard she tried. And god knows she tried.

"Well, you don't have mono now, do you?" she asked before nibbling his ear in an attempt to get his mind on something else. "Care to prove it?"

Nathan didn't react at all to her soft nibbling. He just shook his head and aimlessly gazed across the room.

"My dad's gonna hammer me."

Peyton placed a small kiss on Nathan's cheek and climbed on top of him, each knee beside his thighs. Her hands started to explore his neck and slowly graze his jawline while he brooded. She held his face in her hands before reaching down to give him a small peck on the lips and rising back up.

"You can always go with plan B." she suggested with a smile.

Nathan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. He knew that eventually the conversation was going to go back to that. He never agreed on leaving basketball but he never rejected it either.

"I just… I can't, Peyton."

"Why not?" she asked, almost sounding as if she had no idea his dad is the primary reason.

"You see how my dad's overreacting because I missed that winning shot. How do you think he'll react if I tell him I'm quitting basketball?"

Peyton sighed.

"He won't hold it against you forever, Nate."

Nathan rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"You do know we're talking about _Dan Scott_?" He responded with a tone of irritation.

Peyton's face fell to the floor and her hands no longer playfully journeyed Nathan's toned body. Nathan mentally kicked himself as he looked up at Peyton. He hated pushing her away, especially when he needs her most.

"Look, Peyton. It's not that I don't want to walk away from it with you. I really do," Peyton lifted her head and looked towards Nathan. "But other than you, I don't see any other pros in that scenario."

"You can prove to yourself that you're not a coward. You're staying on the team only because your dad drills you about it." Peyton said with desperation.

"If I leave the team, I'm running away from my dad. If I stay on, it's only because of my dad. Either way I'm a coward." Nathan followed with pity sighs.

Peyton eyes furrowed as she watched her boyfriend wallow in self pity. She suddenly felt guilty for pushing him into making a drastic decision about his life. It was all simple to her.

'Quit cheerleading, kiss Nathan, live happily ever after'

But it wasn't that simple for Nathan.

"I love you, Nathan." Peyton blurted out as she watched him.

Nathan looked up at her and for a fraction of a second he looked shocked and confused.

"I love you." He replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Peyton pulled him by his arms and sat him upright until their chests collided. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulders. His arms supported her tightly and even though Peyton couldn't see it, she knew that he was smiling.

Peyton toured her lips toward his ears and let out a tiny whisper.

"I can stay like this forever."

--X--

"_I can stay in here with you forever."Nathan recited, breaking the awkward silence._

_Peyton rolled her eyes and scoffed in disbelief. It was already bad enough her best friend insisted on __dragging her to the post-game party but then she literally shoved her into the closet with Nathan Scott. Nathan was practically a stranger… well no, not practically. Generally. She only had one conversation with the guy; one in which she pretended like she knew nothing about him before he drove off without naming himself._

_But she lied. She knew all about the infamous Nathan Scott. It was no secret that a peer-friendly game of 7 minutes in heaven usually ended up as 10 or more minutes in the nearest bedroom. Hell, sometimes even the nearest bathroom. Hell, most times he never even bothered leaving the closet. _

"_Let me ask you a question." Nathan looked at her quizzically. "Do those lame pick-up lines usually work?"_

_Nathan let out a smug laugh and took a step closer towards her._

"_Not always. I remember one time this curly blonde ignored me during a game of 7 minutes in heaven."_

"_I'm sure she had good reason."_

_Nathan took another forward strut towards Peyton and beamed a cocky smile._

"_What reason is that?" he asked while keeping a reasonable distance._

"_Do you want the harsh, brutal honesty or the sugar-coated truth?" she asked with a playfully raised eyebrow._

"_Harsh honesty." he answered with interest.  
_

"_I'm really not into the 'reforming bad boys' business." She answered with finger quotes._

_He stared at her like she'd just spoken in an unfamiliar language. "That's harsh honesty? Well, what's the sugar-coated truth?" he asked without changing his expression._

"_The sugar-coated truth is that I'm really not looking forward to being your next fuck buddy who you throw to the side. That, and kissing you is more like 7 minutes in hell." she hardly conveyed.  
_

_Nathan bit his lip in an attempt to hide his shaming smile. _

"_I guess I deserved that." Nathan uttered under his breath._

_Peyton nodded in agreement and leaned her back against the wall. She twirled the string connected to the switch of the ceiling light around her index finger. She looked across the coat closet at Nathan who seemed too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. His hands were behind his back most of the time while he looked down at the closet tile and muttered a few rap songs. Much to Peyton's surprise, he spat a verse from a Public Enemy song. They're the only rap artists she considers herself a fan of._

_Longest seven minutes ever._

_The closet door creaked open and several heads were peering through the open doorway. Brooke was directly upfront. _

"_Why are you guys so far apart?" a male's voice asked from the peering crowd._

"_Because we didn't do anything." Nathan retorted as he attempted to leave the closet._

_Brooke blocked the doorway with her arms folded and chest upright. She was a really small girl but she was a tough one._

"_Uh-uh. You guys can't leave until you kiss. Rules are rules." _

"_I've never heard that rule." Peyton shouted. She couldn't believe that Brooke was going to force her to do it._

"_Aw come on, Peyton. It's just a kiss." Brooke begged and waddled in front the door._

"_Just forget about it, Brooke." Nathan said._

_Brooke had stomped in defeat and started to clear the way. Nathan managed to get an arm and a foot out of the tightly-spaced closet before Peyton grabbed his face in her hands and gave him a short but hard kiss on the lips._

--X--

Nathan stomped into his room and locked the door behind him. He grabbed his phone and started frantically dialing Peyton's house number. His fingers trembled with every button mashing and he could feel the vomit in his throat rising.

"_I hear that Whitey gave your spot to Lucas." Dan said as he sat in his reclining chair with a small glass of wine in his palm. "Do you even care that it's slipping away? All the work we've put into it. All the plans we've made."_

_'No, I don't care. Not one bit.'_

"_All the plans you've made, dad. All the work I've done!"_

'God, I swear I hate him!'

"Hello?" Peyton's answered.

"Peyton?"

"_Fine, quit the team. Hell, quit school for that matter. I'll tell you what, I'll give you a job working at the dealership. You can spend the rest of your life haggling over free floor mats with morons with bad credit. How does that sound?"_

"_How does it sound? It sounds pretty damn sweet, dad! You already boss me around. Why not get paid for it?" Nathan shouted._

"_What?"_

"_You heard me, dad. Maybe I'll take you up on your offer and quit the damn team!" _

"_Watch your language, son!"_

"_No, fuck you!"_

"Peyton, I want to do. I want to quit the team."

* * *

**A/N**: Okay, that's the end of chapter 2. It kind of serves as a filler-ish chapter but I just wanted to change the dynamic of their relationship for the sake of the story(and future chapters). Next chapter I'm going to attempt adding in the other aspects of the story (which might be biting off more than I can chew). In the meantime, leave me some more of those wonderful reviews!


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